CABA Information Series

IS-2009-121: The Web of Things

This paper from Tridium explores technology that allows devices to be networked using versions of the Internet protocol. The author argues for using the 6LoWPAN Internet specification both for wireless (the original intent) and for wired networks including serial links. The goal is to make device data available as Web services. Protocols for representing device messages (oBIX encoded in binary) and for encoding device packets (Chopan) are proposed. Unresolved issues include data security and scripting.